Harmonics

[unknown-user]

As when teaching harmonics… i remember in my lessons on the technique, i also had to study the fifth harmonics… sorry if i don’t have the terminology right.. its when for example you pluck high in the string of C and get a sound of a G… is this technique a must?

[unknown-user]

On the same point… do you agree that harmonics should be thought in scales???

[Elizabeth Volpé Bligh]

I totally agree with your idea of practicing harmonics in different scales! It’s not a bad idea to practice playing chords of harmonics as well. A little trick I devised is to use enharmonic flats if you get a three-note chord of harmonics with a sharp in the middle or bottom. Your palm slants upwards, so the flats come out nicely. You would have to break your arm to slant the hand down to produce those harmonics well. I also only play the regular harmonics that split the string in half. The others don’t sound good and I have never seen them used in a piece.

[Anonymous]

I recall as a student learning a piece by Salzedo which used the harmonic at the twelfth, but

[barbara-brundage]

>I recall as a student learning a piece by Salzedo which used the harmonic at the twelfth, but I have no memory of which piece it was.

Poem of the Little Stars?

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

I agree with the idea of doing harmonics in scales, and you did get the good benefit of knowing where they are on the string. It is also important that they sustain, which you get by not pressing on the string, only touching the node and using pressure only on the playing finger. Please do know the harmonics of the twelfth, as Salzedo used them in his well-titled marvelous Poem of the Little Stars, and I use them in my compositions as well. They are quite useful. Interestingly, you can produce them by going in the direction of the sounding board, as well as the neck. That being said, they are not commonly called for.

[Author]

Posts